


Stars Can't Shine Without Darkness

by IWP_chan



Series: Interrogation Rooms, and What They Entail [9]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M, More Inside, Multi, Pancake Harem, and your interrogator not taking shit from you, being an ass to your interrogator, casual displays of affection and intimacy, implied polythieves - Freeform, sae suspecting everyone of being an accomplice, two thirds of this are like flashbacks, writing the Pancake Harem was lots of fun let me tell you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-30
Updated: 2018-09-30
Packaged: 2019-07-20 22:34:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16146956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IWP_chan/pseuds/IWP_chan
Summary: Looking at the night sky, a question slips into mind: how do you look for stars forming constellations?





	Stars Can't Shine Without Darkness

**Author's Note:**

  * For [JadeDraggy2017](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JadeDraggy2017/gifts), [Seito](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seito/gifts).



Summary: Looking at the night sky, a question slips into mind: how do you look for stars forming constellations?

_Note: This is a very Wild AU I had months ago but I only now got around to writing it. I’ll admit I didn’t think every single point about this AU and only wrote it to get it off my chest so it would stop bugging me. So this is a TL;DR one shot (yes, I know it’s over 10k. still a TL;DR one shot)._

_Gifting this fic to **JadeDraggy2017** because I can *coughHAPPYBELATEDBDAYcough* and to **Seito** for prompting me with the title that brought the whole AU back into my attention._

**Warnings: Pancake Harem (Because I Can), Implied Poly Thieves, Two Thirds Of The Fic Are Basically Flashbacks, Sae Suspecting Everyone Of Being An Accomplice, Other Characters Become Phantom Thieves As Well (Implied), The PT Are The PT But At The Same Time Not, Different Traitor, Not As Informative As You’d Like It To Be, Author Loves Her Vague Bullshit Way Too Much.**

**Disclaimer:** Don’t own P5.

.

He inhaled sharply as he was kicked to the ground, regretting the action immediately when it caused his ribs to ache, the pain flaring hard enough it almost overpowered the throbbing of his arm as he landed roughly on it.

His mind was in a haze as a broad-shouldered man approached him and pulled him to sit up.

He was uncuffed as the man went on about a list of crimes he supposedly committed.

“-defamation, the works.” He blinked as the man continued on, “And manslaughter too. And you seemed to be enjoying every single moment of it.”

He blinked again. Enjoyed it?

_Did he?_

The raging screams of regret and bone-deep ache that had nothing to do with the physical pain his body was going through, the crushing weight of mistakes that he could never wipe away or repent for, all spoke of a different story.

He’d snort at the blatant lie if he didn’t know he would definitely get a kick to the guts for it.

His eyes slipped closed, the most prominent recent memory he had easily resurfacing to the forefront of his mind.

_“You have your teammates to think for this.”_ He’d been told when the police overpowered him and cuffed him, _“You were sold out.”_

He inwardly chuckled, hysteria threatening to overwhelm him; of course he was betrayed, of course he was sold out; why wouldn’t the Thieves throw him away after everything? It was the most logical conclusion.

A clipboard being thrust his way snapped him out of his musings.

“Sign here,” The man said, dark eyes boring holes into him as he accepted the clipboard, staring at it blankly, “It’s a confession under your name.”

The man stretched his arm towards him with a glinting silver pen, “Don’t expect to walk out of here in one piece.”

_Joke’s on you_ , he wanted to say as he grabbed the pen from the man’s hand, _I was never in one piece to begin with._

Biting back the scathing remark, he signed his name: Akechi Goro.

The man took the clipboard from him, giving it a once over with a sneer on his face before turning his snide stare Goro’s way.

“To think the Detective Prince was the leader of the infamous Phantom Thieves all this time, committing those mental shutdowns and psychotic breakdowns he’s investigating.”

If Goro had the energy for it, he would have given the man the middle finger with both hands, maybe the man would then snap and kill him, put him out of his misery.

(It probably wouldn’t happen anyway, Goro was never that lucky.)

.

He didn’t know what happened outside the room, but the ‘interrogators’ dragged him up to a chair before they left the room.

His curiosity was answered by _her_ entrance.

Of course she’d wrangle her into an interrogation of her own; it was her case after all.

Niijima Sae walked into the room, and didn’t even have the decency to look surprised at seeing him there, like she expected, like she _knew_ the Thieves’ leader was him.

Instead, her eyes roved over his appearance and the room around him, gaze landing on the needles still strewn across the floor, and her expression tightened into one of clear disdain and suppressed rage.

“Those bastards,” She all but spat out, her eyebrows furrowing as she strode purposefully to sit in front of him, concern slipping into her gaze when she turned to look back at him.

_Don’t look at me like that_ , he wanted to snap at her, “You don’t look surprised,” He said instead, trying to keep his indignation out of his voice.

He probably failed, but he couldn’t care less at the moment.

“I’m not.”

“How long have you known?”

She pressed her lips together, “Since August.”

He frowned; so presumably since her Shadow mysteriously disappeared from Mementos and her name stopped being a hit in the Nav.

“You know why I’m here.”

“To interrogate me, naturally,” Goro replied, spreading his arms widely, lips stretching in a pathetic imitation of his public persona’s fake smile.

“Not really.” Her eyes glinted, and Goro stared back at her blankly, arms dropping to the side.

“Oh, really.”

“Yes,” She said as she turned to her bag, taking out a folder from inside of it and placing it on the table between them.

It was surprisingly thin if it was meant to contain information about the Thieves’ various actions, and he eyed it in faint curiosity, trying to deduce what it could be from its plain appearance.

“I don’t have much time here to talk about the various acts the Phantom Thieves got up to since they started two years ago, but what I do have time to talk about are your accomplices. The members of the Phantom Thieves.” She punctuated her words by flipping open the folder, “The first people I looked into are your classmates for the past two years, and I found someone who’s been your classmate twice, has been seen with you on multiple occasions, and is connected to the latest target of the Thieves.” Goro found himself staring blankly down at the first picture in the folder, soft brown eyes set in a gentle face framed with fluffy short auburn hair, “Okumura Haru, daughter of Okumura Kunikazu, who suffered a mental shutdown live on TV.”

.

“Thank you for joining me, Goro-kun.” Haru smiled up at him from where she was crouched next to her plants, her hands already deep in the soil as she worked.

“It’s no problem.” He smiled faintly back at her as he gingerly sat down on one of the desks strewn around the rooftop, already feeling the weight of the conversation he was going to have with her in the next few minutes slowly suffocate him, “Besides, I needed to talk to you.”

Her hands stilled, and her smile turned upside down, her forehead creasing with her dissatisfied frown, “It’s about my father, isn’t it?”

Goro’s smile slipped off his face as he nodded solemnly.

Silence stretched for a few minutes, and Goro did his best not to fidget; he knew what he was basically suggesting, knew she hated it, and probably hated him too, knew she was probably imagining wrapping her hands around his neck and squeezing until life left his eyes.

(And he’d deserve it; after all he did, with what he was planning to do next.)

(And she’d do it; he could see it with ease-)

His thoughts were interrupted when Haru stood up and dusted her hands before she turned to give him a piercing look, eyes alight with determination.

“We’ll go to my father’s Palace whenever you want. Just give the signal and I’ll be ready to go with you.”

Her statement slammed into him like a punch to the gut, knocking the breath out of him, and he’d admit that he probably stared at her dumbly for a few minutes before she stared to fidget.

“I know our situations are different, and that’s why it must seem so surprising to you that I would go along with it. But. Goro-kun. We’re friends, even more than that. Have been for the past two years. And will hopefully continue to be in the future as well. I know how much it hurts, how everything hurts you. Everyone knows, and everyone is in this together, you know. We’ve been through so much together and we’re not about to go and throw one of us away. We can do this. _I_ can do this.” She nodded firmly.

She might have been wearing the school’s gym clothes in that moment, but Goro couldn’t help but look at her and see her with her Metaverse clothes, surrounded with the blue flames brought forth by the summoning of a Persona, the brim of her hat shading her face, her black mask surrounding her eyes, her gloved hands grasping her axe tightly.

It was awe inspiring.

“Um.” Haru broke the tension in the air when she went back to fidgeting, “You wouldn’t mind letting me borrow some of your gear, would you?”

He almost laughed hysterically, “Not at all.”

.

It was ridiculously easy to return to his apartment with Haru in tow with no one noticing them, it spoke of how many time they did it, and how long they’ve been doing it for.

He led Haru to his bedroom, not that she needed guiding as she, like the rest, knew his apartment like the backs of their hands.

He pulled up the box containing his Metaverse gear, “Here.”

“Thank you.” She smiled at him as he stepped aside to allow her to get closer to the box to the rummage through it for whatever she desired, walking further away from her to give her privacy.

Surprisingly, she didn’t take long before she took something out of the box and hid it in her purse; Goro acted like he didn’t notice what she took, or wouldn’t know for certain what she took when he had to use the box the next time he went to the Metaverse.

“Thank you again.” Haru stood, clutching her purse tightly before she inhaled deeply and forced her grip to relax.

“You’re always welcome,” He responded, and there was no mistaking the sincerity of his words.

Haru’s face softened and she stepped closer to him, slowly as if she didn’t want to scare him, as if she wanted to give him the chance to get away if he wasn’t feeling comfortable.

(As if she wasn’t part of the reason his life wasn’t as terrifyingly unbearable as it could have been, had he had no one.)

The moment she reached him, she cupped his face and rose to her tiptoes, to press a kiss to his cheek. His eyes slipped closed, and he savored the moment as the kiss lingered for a few seconds longer than it should be.

Haru slowly pulled back, “I’ll see you later, okay?”

He nodded, almost in a daze, watching her back as she headed towards the entrance to leave the apartment, waving at him as she went.

He raised his hand to return the wave, before he let it drop after Haru closed the door behind her. He sighed.

For all that he now had reasons he didn’t mind his life as much as he used to, those very same reasons were why he’d also hate his life.

He closed his eyes and leaned back against the wall; he still had work to do.

He still had to take Shido down, and before that, there was no rest for him.

(No rest for the wicked, indeed.)

.

The Thieves swept through Okumura’s Palace quietly, only speaking to discuss their plans, their Palace infiltration, share information; none of them had the desire to talk about anything unnecessary with the end-goal of their infiltration hanging over their heads like a guillotine’s blade.

(And it may as well have been a guillotine’s blade, all things considered.)

(Palace infiltrations and Mementos explorations were rarely something the team took joy in.)

Haru was with him in the lead all the way through, giving him a Stare every time he as much as thought of switching her with someone else to let her rest, as if daring him to go through with it.

The robots in the Palace seemed to harden her resolve to see the operation through, rather than weaken it.

.

And then they faced her father’s Shadow, and then she struck him down.

.

As Okumura’s Shadow was pathetically braced on his hands and knees on the floor, only Haru stood above him; the rest of the Thieves had already went back, deciding to give Haru privacy as she talked with her father, but Goro had lingered behind.

Haru may have decided to shoulder the responsibility in his place, but he was the team’s leader for all intents and purposes, and there was no way he was going to leave Haru alone as she threw her life into disarray with her own two hands.

He didn’t see it happen, as he’d given the father-daughter duo his back, keeping his gaze focused on the door the Thieves had disappeared into; he didn’t hear it happen, as he wasn’t meant to hear it.

But he felt it.

He felt it as the ground shook underneath him and the Palace started to crumble, but he didn’t move, waiting until Haru rejoined with him as she stowed the equipment she borrowed from him away, it was only then that they took off running to rejoin the rest of the Thieves to escape from the Palace.

.

He didn’t know what Haru said to her father’s Shadow, and how it affected him, and he didn’t care to know; it was Haru’s personal business and he had no need to interfere in it.

He only knew that a few days after the Thieves were done with the Palace, Okumura had organized a press conference to supposedly confess something very important.

Only to suffer a mental shutdown during the conference and die after he reached the hospital.

It was then that Haru arrived at his apartment and gave him a bag.

Goro didn’t need to look inside to know that it contained the gun and silencer Haru had borrowed from him days prior.

.

Goro quirked his eyebrow up as he sent a deadpan stare Sae’s way; he was already caught with the noose tightening around his neck, might as well just let loose without worrying about repercussions, “Seriously? My classmates? And Okumura Haru? Have you _met_ her?”

“As a matter of fact, I have.”

“Right, you investigated. Whatever. So what did you do to compile this folder, then? Dig into every single classmate I’ve ever had?”

“If need be.” Sae met his incredulous stare with a stoic one of her own, “Speaking of classmates; there is another one of your classmates under suspicion of being another member of your team.”

“First Okumura who wouldn’t hurt a fly, who’s next?” He almost snorted as she flipped the folder to the next page.

“Makoto Niijima, Student Council President of Shujin Academy. And my very own sister.”

.

Makoto sighed as she slumped forward on the table the two of them sat at, quietly doing their homework together.

“Is there a problem?” Goro inquired, voice soft.

Makoto sighed again as she straightened up in her seat, “It’s nothing new. I was just thinking about Kaneshiro.”

Goro hummed in response, “Is the principal being a bother again?”

“Yes. My only solace is that it won’t be long until we have Kaneshiro turn himself in,” She said, bitterness lining her words, “Are we still on the same schedule for the Palace trip to check on his Shadow one last time?”

“Yes,” He replied, “Nothing has popped up to make me consider rescheduling. Is there something wrong? Are you short on time to make the calling cards?”

Makoto shook her head, “No. Ryuji, Yusuke, and I already have everything ready. Can we… can we push the operation ahead of schedule? I don’t like keeping it so last minute…”

“Worried about exams?”

Makoto’s cheeks reddened, “I know it sounds like something silly to worry about when compared to everything else, but I’m still the Student Council President, and while I couldn’t help with Kamoshida-” Her lips pressed into a thin line in disgust, “-and I can’t help with the principal, this is the only thing I can give to the students at the moment…”

Goro stared at her intently, and she stared back at him without flinching.

“Alright,” He said a moment later, “How does spreading the calling cards tomorrow sound?”

“I’m going to ask the others!” Makoto reached for her phone to contact the rest, and Goro didn’t need to ask what she was doing when his own phone pinged with new messages notification from the Thieves group chat.

He absently read over the messages, only responding to confirm the potential change in schedule, and only noting the responses to the change. When everyone reached an agreement, he exited the chatting app to look at Makoto who started to gather her things with a determined gleam in her eyes.

After she was done, she walked quickly around the table to lean towards Goro and kiss him on the cheek, “Thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Alright.”

.

The next day, people were abuzz with the news of the calling cards spread all over Shibuya, talking to each other in hushed whispers as they all wondered what was going to befall Kaneshiro.

Goro paid them no heed as he made his way through the crowd to the karaoke place the Thieves agreed to meet in to discuss their plans for the day.

He made sure he was going to be the first to arrive, but Makoto still almost beat him to the meeting spot. The rest of the Thieves trickled in not long afterward.

It took them an hour to go over the maps they had, and an additional half an hour to check their equipment.

When their time at the booth was up, they all made their way to Shibuya station, a group usually boisterous, but subdued with thoughts of what was awaiting them.

It was then that they met an unpredictable hitch in their plans.

The bookmark for Kaneshiro’s Palace had disappeared from the Nav.

In fact, Kaneshiro’s name didn’t even get hit from the Nav when they tried to look it up in the app again.

“What is the meaning of this?” Yusuke frowned, “It couldn’t possibly mean that the Palace disappeared all by itself, could it?”

Makoto pressed her lips together into a thin line, “It was there this morning, I checked the bookmarks by myself. How could a Palace disappear so quickly in such a short span of time without any outside interference?”

“Unless there was outside interference,” Goro murmured.

Ryuji scowled when he heard him, “You think something happened to Kaneshiro? And when we were so close to doing something, too!”

Ann sighed, “Yeah…”

Makoto frowned, “I’m going to check his hideout.”

“Mako-” Ann started but Makoto raised her hand, interrupting her.

“What else is there to do? There is no other place where we could search for clues.”

“Stay safe.”

“I will.”

.

Makoto couldn’t find anything as apparently Kaneshiro just up and disappeared, and no one knew anything about it, or if they did, they kept their lips sealed about the topic.

It was infuriating, how the situation was upended without any clue as to what happened or what caused it.

Someone had pulled the rug right from under Goro, and he hated it.

.

And then Kaneshiro turned himself to the police, completely out of his own volition.

.

“Oho?” He snorted for real this time, unable to hide his amusement, “You’re accusing your own sister now? Are you that desperate for clues? To the point of looking at the slightest bit of connection between me and others to accuse them of being accomplices?”

“Do you want me to branch out?” Sae wasn’t fazed by his remarks, calmly flipping through the folder again to the next page, “Like someone who isn’t your classmate? Someone who isn’t even your own age? Someone like Sakura Futaba, daughter of Isshiki Wakaba, the first mental shutdown victim?”

.

Sneaking into the Sakura residence always required utmost stealth to avoid any nosy neighbors from seeing him; the last thing he needed was to have Boss suspect him of trying anything with his daughter.

Which, Goro would always wince at the reminder, wouldn’t be that far off from the mark, as it wasn’t like his relationship with _any_ of the Thieves was in any way purely platonic; they were all teenagers who only had each other to trust and confide in fully. It would be no surprise that they would turn to each other for various types of comfort.

And at the end of the day, Futaba was still one of them.

However, it would never cease to shock him that Futaba sought comfort from him just like she would with the rest, and that she would let him seek comfort from her, particularly considering what happened to her mother.

“Hey,” Goro started, voice quiet, as he cracked the door to her room open enough for him to slip in and soundlessly close it behind him, “What are you doing?”

Futaba merely waved him over from her chair, where she sat curled up, tapping away at her phone, and Goro complied with the silent command, moving towards her and placing the bag of snacks he brought with him close to her chair so she could reach for it easily whenever she wanted.

“Chatting,” She replied curtly, tilting the screen towards Goro, and he blinked down at the name of the contact: Key Item.

“Who is…”

“It’s Akira.”

“Why Key Item?”

“Because he’s my Key Item; I need him to complete a very important quest.”

Goro waited for her to elaborate, but when she didn’t, he merely nodded and changed his line of questioning, “You seem to be having a lot of fun with Akira,” He said as he noted the messages flying across the screen.

“Jealous?” She sent him a cheeky smile.

“Of which of you?” He mirrored her expression.

“Both of us, duh. We’re having fun while you’re stuck doing boring work.” She typed a quick goodbye message to Akira telling him that she would talk with him later when he sent her a message telling her that he had to leave because Sojiro was giving him the Look, “Speaking of boring work.” She put her phone aside and started typing away at the keyboard in front of her, eyes glued to the screen of her computer, “Everything with Medjed is in order. You don’t need to do anything, just sit tight and everything will happen according to plan when the deadline hits. Just two weeks from now. You can be patient that long, right?”

Goro huffed in amusement, “Of course.”

The two remained silent for a few moments before Futaba huffed in annoyance and crossed her arms before sending a pout Goro’s way, “I’m waiting!”

Goro blinked at her in confusion before realization dawned on him, “Oh, right, sorry.” He smiled before he patted her on the head, and she preened.

“Okay you can go to Leblanc now and bask in Akira’s presence; I have a game to get into. Oh, and also your boss is there again, guess she likes the coffee and curry a lot. Understandable. There is nothing that can beat Sojiro’s coffee and curry.”

“Alright, I’ll see you later, Futaba.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Goro took in basically being kicked out with ease of practice; Futaba was picky about her alone time and it was better not to alienate her about it lest he suffer Consequences that he dare not think about.

Futaba blew him an exaggerated kiss when he slipped outside the room, and he resisted the urge to snort.

Taking the long way around the neighborhood, Goro made his way to Leblanc where he found Sae, sipping coffee as she sat in one of the booths with one of her work folders spread on the table in front of her.

Akira was doing the dishes at the back while Boss was behind the counter.

“Welcome,” Boss greeted him, and Goro nodded at him with a polite smile.

“Hello, Boss,” He said as he made his way to the booth Sae occupied and slipped into the seat across from her, “I hope this seat is not taken.” He chuckled lightly.

Sae hummed as she gazed at him over the rim of her cup, reddish eyes intense as they basically dissected him with her stare alone.

“Is something the matter?”

“No, not at all.” She placed her cup down and returned to looking through the file with a concentrated frown.

“Senpai, welcome.” Goro tilted his head to the side to take in Akira who made his way back behind the counter, noting that Sojiro had walked around the counter to head to the door.

“Take care of the café, kid, I just remembered I have business to take care of,” Sojiro called out as he walked out the door.

“Sure thing, Boss!” Akira called out before returning his attention to Goro, “What would you like, senpai?”

“The usual, Akira-kun.”

Akira sent him a small smile, more akin to a quirk of the lips than an actual smile, but Goro relished in the pleased thrum it sent through his body regardless.

“Coming right up.”

An amused huff of laughter from the other side of the booth caused him to turn his attention back to Sae, to notice her eying him with a quirked eyebrow and a faint smile, eyes glinting in mirth, and he blushed faintly in embarrassment.

The realization that this was the first time he was at Leblanc with Sae struck him like lightning, and he had the horrible feeling that he was going to regret recommending the place to her. Deeply.

“It seems this barista holds more of your interest than you let on when you told me about Leblanc. Is there something you’d like to share with me?”

Oh boy, this was worse than the time Sae almost caught him holding hands with Yusuke.

He coughed in an attempt to clear his throat, “I don’t understand what you’re referring to.” It was a weak attempt at deflecting the question, and he knew it, and Sae most definitely knew it, judging by the unimpressed arch of her eyebrow.

“Here you go, senpai.” Akira cut into the conversation with ease, placing a plate of curry and a cup of coffee down on the table in front of Goro, whose blush darkened slightly at the reminder that Akira was with them all along and probably heard their exchange, “Hope you enjoy,” Akira said before retreating, punctuating the statement with a flirtatious wink, causing Goro’s face to erupt into a violent shade of red.

“Sae-san, please,” He pleaded with a weak voice.

“Alright.” Sae smothered a cough into her hand, a cough that sounded suspiciously close enough to a laugh, “I won’t tease you about it.”

_Great_ , he thought as his phone buzzed in his pocket, indicating a received message, _at least that’s one of them fended off_.

He didn’t need to check his phone’s screen to know who the sender was; after all, Futaba had eyes and ears in Leblanc and missed nothing of the happenings around the café.

.

He checked his phone later; her message was simple: _[WEAKLING]_ she’d sent, and he decided the best course of action was to not try to defend himself, lest he open up a long winded debate about his supposed thirst for Kurusu Akira, a debate he was absolutely sure Futaba would win anyway. She had _receipts_.

.

When the twenty first of the month rolled around, and the identity of the apparent Medjed member behind the cleanse threat was exposed to the public along with the Phantom Thieves’ logo taking over Medjed’s site, Goro expected to get busy with work dealing with the aftermath.

He didn’t expect Futaba banging on his door bright and early, dragging along with her a very sleepy Akira and a very disgruntled Morgana, if the hissing coming from the cat was any indication.

Futaba immediately ditched Akira and Morgana at the entrance after Goro opened the door for her, and bolted towards the living room, leaving a bewildered Goro in her wake.

“Futaba?” He called to her, “What is going on?”

“We’re binge watching Featherman is what’s going on!” She shouted from the living room.

“But isn’t today-” The twenty first of August?

“What about today?” She poked her head out of the room, squinting at him before rolling her eyes and skipping towards the kitchen, no doubt to raid the snack stash Goro kept for whenever one of the Thieves decided that crashing at Goro’s place for the night was a great idea.

(Which happened more often than he could have ever imagined.)

Goro was distracted from answering her when a weight settled against his side. He looked down to check only to be met with the sight of Akira sleeping while bracing his weight against Goro, Morgana somehow asleep securely in his arms.

This… this was new…

He froze in place, one arm raised in an aborted motion to reach for Akira, not knowing what to do in such a situation.

He was used to the rest of the Thieves making themselves right at home in his presence, but he wasn’t used to Akira yet.

(Or his cat who seemed to have made it his duty to suspiciously glare at Goro whenever Goro would cross his line of sight.)

“Oooooh.” Futaba blinked at the three of them in interest when she made her way out of the kitchen, arms laden with, predictably, snacks, “You’re not gonna put him to bed?”

Goro made a confused noise at the back of his throat.

“You know,” Futaba started slowly, “Your bed? Take him to your bed and let him sleep some more? He’s not a morning person and I woke him up early on a day with no classes.” She shrugged, as if she wasn’t at fault, “Plus, I know he was out working somewhere all day yesterday because when he came back to Leblanc he was basically dragging his feet from exhaustion. So. Bed?”

Mechanically, Goro complied with Futaba’s suggestion, his arms taking hold of Akira’s body and gently guiding him to the bedroom.

Akira stirred only slightly, eyes falling open just a crack to look blearily at his surroundings and pay attention to his footing as Goro pulled him along.

After Goro tucked him in bed, the same bed he’d only left just minutes ago when Futaba came knocking, Akira immediately fell back into slumber, arms still curled around Morgana, who made himself right at home.

Goro absently made a note to clean the sheets from cat hair later as he made his way to the living room, where Futaba waited for him, thoughts still lingering on having Akira in his bed.

It wasn’t the first time he had people in his bed (sometimes, he’d even be in the same bed along with them- alright, a _lot_ of times), but it was the first time the person in question wasn’t a member of the Thieves, and he wondered if Akira would be joining them in the sleepover trend as well.

“You’re late,” Futaba said, waving him over to the couch in front of the TV, “I was going to start without you.”

Goro shook his head in mirth. No, she wasn’t going to start without him; she never did because she always preferred having someone she could scream with over fangirling by herself.

“I’m starting it!”

“Alright, alright, I’m coming!”

“ _Are_ you?”

As the two degenerated into routine back and forth snarkfest, Goro thought that maybe, maybe, he could get used to this.

Maybe he had hope after all, that everything wasn’t going to crash and burn eventually, when his plan reached its completion point, that maybe he wasn’t going to drag the amazing people he met along his path for revenge down with him.

They’d still have each other, even if he’d disappear from their lives, they could make it out alright.

.

“Seriously?” Goro scoffed, “Are you accusing Isshiki Wakaba’s daughter of collaborating with the person who is basically the one who murdered her mother? First Okumura Haru, then Sakura Futaba, are you going to accuse _another_ child of a mental shutdown victim of being an accomplice of mine?”

Sae, still as irritatingly unfazed as she had been from the moment she started interrogating him (and what an equally irritating interrogation; he expected more anger from her, more shouting, more questions, more uncomfortable digging into every single thing he ever did in the past couple of years, but no, nothing of the sort happened), merely calmly flipped to the next page of the folder.

“He may not exactly count in the way you were considering, but this one is, indeed, another child of another mental shutdown victim. Pupil of the late famous artist Madarame, Kitagawa Yusuke. Ring any bells?”

.

Goro always hated when he had to deal with such tasks. _Always._

It was just like Isshiki Wakaba all over again.

(At least this time he wasn’t doing it alone- even though he had no idea if it was a bad thing or a good thing yet.)

He could easily figure out what caused the Thieves to end up on this ‘mission’, and it started with Kamoshida’s-

With a deep inhale, Goro cleared his mind from this particular line of thoughts; speculating on what brought him to this point was never a good idea, less so when he had a Job to deal with.

His grip on his sword tightened as he raised it slightly, and Madarame’s Shadow trembled in front of him, crumpled on the floor after the Thieves had defeated him.

“Wait!” Shadow Madarame called out, clearly trying to delay the inevitable, “I- I have information! Things that might interest you! I-!” He broke off in a choked cry when Goro took a threatening step forward.

“I don’t need any information out of you,” Goro declared, voice cold and tone sharp, “Your time is up!” Goro raised the blade in his hands higher, serrated edge pointing downwards towards Madarame’s Shadow, ready to plunge it in.

“Wait,” A voice called out to him from the side, stopping him in place.

Goro tilted his head sideways in faint curiosity as he observed Yusuke step up next to him and lay a hand on his shoulder.

“Yusuke!” Shadow Madarame all but sobbed in relief.

“Allow me,” Yusuke intoned as he stepped in front of Goro, hand drawing his blade from its sheath.

Goro’s grip on his blade tightened painfully as he lowered it, face carefully blanked out.

“Yusuke?” Shadow Madarame shuddered.

“Goodbye, Sensei.” With a somber air about him, Yusuke drove his katana deep into the Shadow’s guts. Shadow Madarame let out a gurgle.

It only took mere seconds before the Shadow evaporated into black mist and completely disappeared.

And then, predictably, the Palace began to shake as it started crumbling with the death of its ruler.

Yusuke turned around sharply, deftly returning his blade to its sheath, to regard them with a pair of seemingly blank eyes from behind his fox-like mask, “Let’s go.”

With that, the Thieves turned around to escape the Palace, with Yusuke bringing up the rear along with Goro.

“Yusuke,” Goro started but was interrupted by Yusuke.

“Later.”

.

Miraculously, the group made it out fine, and didn’t end up making a spectacle out of themselves when they slipped out of the Metaverse.

They all lingered for a few seconds, their eyes locked on Yusuke, who merely shook his head.

He wasn’t in the mood to talk, and the Thieves understood that as they nodded and parted ways.

(Yusuke may have seemed to hold it all in together, but they all knew it was just a front, just a way to keep himself intact until he found a place where he could safely break down and recollect himself again.)

Goro cast one last look at Yusuke, and started to step away before he was stopped in place by Yusuke calling out to him.

“Goro.”

“Yes?”

“May I impose upon you for the night? I don’t believe I can return to the atelier today.”

“Of course.” Goro nodded and waved his arm forward to gesture towards the path he’d take to his apartment, “You’re always welcome, Yusuke.”

Yusuke bowed in gratitude, as if it wasn’t Goro who needed to do the exact same thing for Yusuke for relieving him of the burden of being responsible for one more murder, selfish as it would be of him to feel relieved about it when the one to take up the responsibility was the one who viewed their target as a parental figure.

(Perhaps Goro should get around to murdering _his_ own parent soon enough- save everyone the pain.)

.

The two headed back to Goro’s apartment in silence, not talking even as they stowed away their bags and prepared something light and easy to eat to help them replenish their energy after the day’s excursion and various combat encounters.

They retired to bed not long after, Yusuke slipping into the pajamas he left at Goro’s apartment for such situations before climbing into bed, Goro following after him soon after.

 At first, they lied in bed side by side, with enough space between them as the bed would allow, but then Yusuke decided that he had other ideas, and reached out to grab Goro and tug him closer, pressing him flush against Yusuke with his arms wrapped around Goro. Goro blushed slightly, but shook his initial awkwardness off; it wasn’t the first time he shared the bed with someone else, but he couldn’t always avoid the awkwardness at the start. After he relaxed, he didn’t hesitate in tangling his legs with Yusuke’s and wrapping his own arms around the other.

They remained silent, simply basking in each other’s presence before sleep claimed them.

.

(Their sleep remained undisturbed due to their exhaustion, thankfully. Unfortunately, the exhaustion persisted to the next day, and the two had to do their best to not look like death warmed over during school.)

.

(Goro didn’t miss how Yusuke left the katana he used for that day’s Metaverse trip at Goro’s apartment.)

.

_(Goro didn’t miss how Yusuke never asked for it back.)_

.

Goro looked at Sae, miffed, “You just keep branching out and out into such wild suggestions and ideas.”

Sae scoffed, one eyebrow quirking imperiously, as if telling him he had yet to hear a conspiracy theory wild enough from her yet.

“Oh? Then what about these two?” Sae flipped the folder to its last couple of pages, “Are these wilder, in your opinion? Two underclassmen of yours, attending Shujin. Takamaki Ann, who works part-time as a model, and Sakamoto Ryuji, who used to be the star of Shujin’s track team. These two certainly aren’t very conspicuous company.”

.

_Goddamn Kamoshida_ , Goro ground his teeth together in frustration as he made his way to the diner where he, Ryuji, and Ann had agreed to meet up after yet another call that Ann received from Kamoshida that was only subverted thanks to her having enough wits about her to claim that she already made plans with Goro for some tutoring in history.

Goro was the first to arrive, naturally, but thankfully, the other two didn’t take long to arrive as well, both seething, but Ann hiding it enough so it only spilled from her vicious glare.

Ryuji slipped next to Goro, grumbling as he dropped his bag to the table and started rummaging inside to get his textbooks out.

Ann slid into the seat opposite them, much more composed than Ryuji, but movements stiff as she dug out her textbooks for their supposed study session.

Goro already had his spread out in front of him in preparation.

“He did it again, I see,” Goro commented, tone bland as he tried to keep his anger at bay.

Ryuji huffed, scowl prominent on his face, as he inched closer to Goro before leaning all his weight on Goro’s side.

Ann slid her legs forward underneath the table, a fact Goro was made aware of due to her hooking a foot around his ankle. Goro complied with the silent command and slid his legs forward as well to allow Ann to comfortable cross her ankles around one of his, entangling their feet together.

“Yeah.” She exhaled, frown marring her face, “I’ll admit I was a mess. I didn’t relax until I called Shiho to check on her and confirm she wasn’t anywhere close to school.”

“And?” Goro prompted.

Ann allowed her shoulders to slump, “She was out at a shop near the train station buying some snacks so…”

“That’s good to hear.” Goro smiled gently at her, and she nodded, the corners of her lips pulling up in the barest hint of a smile.

Ryuji dropped his head on Goro’s shoulder, “It’s a good thing she befriended Akira. Man, that guy is good at keeping her away from school as much as possible with excuses like showing the new guy around because he keeps getting hopelessly lost.”

Goro muffled his chuckle into his hand, “That aside, we’re here for a study session, aren’t we? History, yes?”

Ryuji groaned while Ann practically wilted.

“History study session… yeah…” She smiled weakly.

.

Goro had always wished he could do something to punish Kamoshida, a- a- a _monster_ he’d happily shoot between the eyes and watch as he crumpled to the ground in a graceless heap.

(And what hypocrisy, that he, a monster, was calling another a monster as well.)

_(He figured like recognized like.)_

(He’d never forget the day Ryuji came back to them, to him, with a broken leg and broken dreams.)

He wished he could retaliate, oh how he wished. But he was under strict orders not to do anything to, ah, ‘attract attention’ to Shujin more than necessary.

Which was bullshit, Goro knew because he _knew_ the only reason was because **_he_** didn’t want the Thieves to use their abilities according to their own whims.

Even if those whims were simply helping and protecting each other.

Not that Goro expected anything else from **_him._**

He’d had to keep his head down and bite his tongue for over a year now, and he didn’t know how much longer he could ignore the situation.

Either someone else in the administration pulled their head out of their ass or Goro snapped and did something both he and the team would regret.

.

(In a quiet moment a few days later while he sat in his apartment, with Ann leaning against him after having cried herself to sleep in her worry over Shiho after Kamoshida stopped contacting her, Ryuji having slipped out of the apartment to get some sweets to cheer her up after she woke up, he’d took his phone out and opened the Nav, he’d inputted the asshole’s name but it was no match.)

(He’d have thrown his phone at the wall in frustration, but he feared the sound of his phone hitting it and breaking might rouse Ann, so he refrained.)

.

He couldn’t even vent some of his frustrations against the Shadow when it didn’t exist in either a Palace or Mementos.

.

A day later, there was a school assembly, and Kamoshida had barged in, had stepped up to the stage, and had kneeled, confessing to his crimes, and profusely apologizing.

Goro barely noticed the happenings around him as he watched the spectacle in a daze, only registering Kamoshida mentioning how he planned to take his own life in repentance, and Ann snapping at him that he didn’t deserve to take the easy way out.

Something had happened. He didn’t know how it happened, or who caused it, and it sent a thrill of excitement as well as a shudder of dread down his spine.

_Something had happened. He didn’t know what, and he didn’t know what it meant for the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, but at the moment he didn’t care._

This. _This_ was what he wanted to achieve with his plans to take **_him_** down.

_But._

First, he needed to figure out how it happened.

.

“I just tutored them a couple of times, and you jump at the chance to invent a connection that isn’t there.”

“So,” Sae said as she snapped the folder closed, “Okumura Haru, Niijima Makoto, Sakura Futaba, Kitagawa Yusuke, Takamaki Ann, and Sakamoto Ryuji. You deny that they are your teammates?” She put the folder back into her bag and closed it, “You know I could make a deal with you if you cooperate with me and confirm for me the identities of the rest of the Thieves.”

Goro let out a bark of laughter, “ _Hilarious._ No.” He wiped out all traces of fake amusement from his face, “These people aren’t my teammates. I don’t have teammates.” He hoped her bag caught fire and burned everything with it to ashes, and he sincerely hoped she had no spare copies of the files.

It was farfetched, but he could only hope (heh).

“Are you sure?” She crossed her arms, “You’ve been told you’ve been sold out by one of your teammates when you were arrested, you remember that?”

Goro maintained a relaxed posture, ignoring how much that information stung.

The worst part was that he could easily believe it; he could easily see how he could be sold out to the police to fulfill some grand scheme or something of the sort for one reason or the other (he could think of quite a few).

“And your point being?”

“Even with this, with all of what happened to you, you still maintain your stance on not selling anyone of the rest of the Thieves out.” Admiration leaked into her voice but her stare on him was as firm and intense as when she stepped into the room a while ago. She took a look at her watch and sighed, “My time here is over.” She stood up, bag slung over her shoulder, “Anything else you’d like to say before I leave?”

Goro shrugged, “Good luck?”

“I won’t need luck.” She turned around and left, the door closing behind her with a final click.

He waited, inwardly counting to ten and back before he allowed himself to slump tiredly over the table, his previous bravado slipping away from him like a heavy coat falling from his shoulder.

It figured he was thrown to the wolves to be beaten; it figured he was the sacrificial lamb of the operation, he was the first after all; it figured Shido intended to dispose of him before Goro could get any ideas.

It also figured he probably planned to dispose of the rest of the Thieves once they served no more purpose for him, like he hadn’t used and abused them enough as it was.

Now the question was, should he roll over and die, finally bite the bullet, or should he fight back to the last second to make sure the people he involved with his petty revenge scheme at least made it out alive?

There was a click as the door was cracked open again, and Goro straightened up to face it. It couldn’t be Sae or the interrogators; they probably milked all they could get out of him, had their fun beating up a drugged prisoner, so the new arrival was most likely another pet assassin of Shido, come to dispose of him.

And damned if he would go down looking as tired and defeated as he probably felt.

The door opened enough to allow someone to slip in before it was closed, and all the conclusions he’d drawn about his situation, all the energy he mustered to face his would-be murderer, couldn’t prepare him for seeing none other than Kurusu Akira standing on the other side of the table.

For a moment, Goro sat frozen in his chair, his brain an incoherent mess, full of chanted strings of _‘nonononononono’_ while simultaneously trying to figure out any hint that Akira could have been connected, that Akira had a hand in anything.

Memories and thoughts slotted into place as he analyzed everything he could remember about Akira, from his probation, to his large group of friends, of confidants, to what could possibly bring him down here.

_It didn’t make sense._

Goro shook his head, a whispered ‘ _no_ ’ slipping out of him involuntarily as he tried to stand up, pushing his chair back, but his exhausted body didn’t react properly. The back of his knees caught on the edge of his chair and messed up his balance, causing him to trip and collide with the floor again, shock dulling the pain.

No. It couldn’t be Akira. Shido couldn’t have dug his claws into Akira as well. There was no way. Not Akira too. Akira was supposed to be unrelated to the mess that was Goro’s life so what was he doing here _why was he here what brought him here **who brought him here-**_

“Shhhh.” Akira swiftly approached, “Don’t worry, calm down, I’m not here to hurt you.” Akira grasped his arm but Goro shoved him off, dragging himself away from Akira and flinging himself at one of the walls where he scrabbled at it to stand up.

“Goro, please,” Akira pleaded with him as he followed after him, and Goro gasped when he felt arms gently wrap around him, carefully cradling him against Akira’s chest and helping to pull him up, “I’m here to get you out. Quickly. We have no time to waste. The guard had been successfully distracted but I don’t know for how long he’d be gone.”

Goro blinked blearily as he tried to crane his neck and take a look at Akira who was behind him, “Did you just call me Goro?”

Akira sighed, his breath fanning out against Goro’s neck, “Yes. Now’s not the time to be focusing on that particular part. We need to get out!”

“We need to what?”

Akira sighed again before he cautiously maneuvered Goro around to throw one of Goro’s arms over his shoulder, one arm snaking around Goro’s waist and pulling him flush against Akira’s body to brace his weight, “We need to leave, Goro. We’re here to break you out.”

“We?” Goro repeated, confusion overwhelming him, “Who are we?”

“You’ll see the rest soon enough.” Akira sent him a small smile before he started moving towards the door, gently tugging Goro along with him.

If this was an elaborate plan to kill him, then it wasn’t half-bad, in Goro’s humble opinion.

.

The corridor was empty when the two made their way out, and Goro figured this was what Akira meant by the guard being distracted.

As they reached the corner, they came face to face with Sae.

_Oh no,_ Goro stared blankly at her, brain buzzing at being caught so soon after they left the room.

“Ready?” She merely asked, causing Goro to blink in confusion. Next to him, Akira nodded.

Akira and Sae were working together? Since when did the two interact outside of customer-barista exchanges while at Leblanc?

Sae took her phone out and tapped on the screen a couple of time before the world around them rippled, the sensation very familiar to Goro after more than two years of using the Nav.

They were going to take him to a Palace? Were they planning to dispose of him there where no one could find him?

More importantly: _since_ _when did Sae have the Nav?_

The switch between reality and the Metaverse would have been barely noticeable if he hadn’t been paying attention to it as the corridor remained the same.

“There is barely any distortion here,” Sae explained, unprompted, before she gestured to the side down the corridor leading to the elevator, “So we don’t have to worry about being attacked by Shadows. First off, we need to heal you a bit to make sure you can move on your own. Don’t try to escape, alright?” Sae narrowed her eyes at him sternly, “You’re in a tight spot and we can’t afford to have you be seen around the area when you’re supposed to be reported dead.”

She didn’t budge from her imposing stance in front of the two, and Akira remained silent and unmoving next to him, which meant that he too refused to continue moving forward until after Goro assured them that he wasn’t going to try to escape them.

“I won’t.” He sighed; they were correct, there was no denying that, he had nowhere to go that wouldn’t be compromised.

“Good.” Sae nodded in satisfaction before she tilted her head to the side, “You heard him, Mona, it’s your turn now.”

A small figure darted from around the corner as well, and Goro found himself staring down blankly at a cartoonish cat figure staring up at him with big, familiar blue eyes.

Goro couldn’t shake the feeling that he knew this… _creature_ … from somewhere.

“Got it!” The cat (?) nodded seriously, its childish voice stirring a vague recollection in Goro’s mind that he heard it somewhere, before it raised its paws up to the black mask tied around its head, “Zorro!”

An imposing figure emerged from behind the cat, enshrouded in blue flames, with chains silently swaying in the air where they wrapped around both the figure and the cat in a very familiar fashion.

The cat had a fucking _Persona_.

“I’m going to heal him bit by bit to see how much he can take before we need to switch to our healing items instead,” The cat said, critically eyeing Goro, causing the sense of familiarity to increase.

It was maddening.

“Alright,” Akira finally spoke up again, “You got it, Mona.”

‘Mona’ preened under the praise, “Let’s go, Zorro!”

The Persona, Zorro, slashed his sword in the air in a ‘z’ formation, and Goro could feel the sensation of a Dia spell spreading through his body.

A few minutes and Dia spells later, Mona let Zorro fade away, and Sae reached into her bag to get out a bottle of medicine before she walked closer to Goro and grasped his jaw, titling it back.

“Open your mouth,” She ordered, and he complied, allowing her to slip the contents of the bottle into his mouth.

The liquid slid down his throat, cool and bitter.

After she was done, Sae pulled back and capped the bottle, returning it to her bag.

“How are you feeling now? Physically?”

“Much better.” He wasn’t at his best, but he could at least move around without needing Akira to support him in fear of Goro collapsing due to his legs refusing to carry him.

Akira reluctantly let him go, and he experimentally stretched his legs, “I’m good to walk on my own.”

“That’s good to hear.” Sae’s expression softened the slightest bit before it returned to its former sternness, “We’re still not out of danger, however. We still need to get you out of here and somewhere safe.”

With that, the group of four finally headed towards the elevator.

.

The trip to the exit was slow, understandably so, given how they kept sending Akira and Mona to scout ahead to check whether or not their way was obstructed by anything or anyone and waiting for one of them to return to give them the signal to continue.

It was surprisingly like being back with the Thieves while they infiltrated a Palace, and Goro didn’t know what to make of the startling similarity.

(The other three even moved around quietly, making sure not to make any sounds with their footsteps, a feat considering the fact that Sae wore heels. And they communicated silently, as if used to such sneaking around.)

It brought a thought to Goro’s mind, one he’d been entertaining for a while. It was absolutely ridiculous, but the more he paid attention to the three as they made their way out of the police station, the more it seemed to fit.

But then they stepped out of the station, and Mona turned into a van, and Goro was left gaping, all previous thoughts forgotten as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing.

If Sae hadn’t pushed him to climb in, he would have probably stood rooted in place for a long while, simply staring the vehicle and trying to figure out what happened.

.

Sae and Akira took turns driving until they were away enough from the police station before they parked and exited the van. Goro followed them outside and into the alleyway they slipped into, and Mona reverted to cat form soon after.

“This is the spot we agreed on with Boss,” Mona said, and Goro frowned, dread filling him at the words.

Boss?

They couldn’t possibly be referring to Boss _Boss_ , could they?

“But before we leave the Metaverse, we need to disguise Goro,” Akira pointed out as he shoved a hand into his pocket and bringing out a hair tie.

Goro tried not to protest much when Akira pretty much manhandled him, tying his hair back, tugging his jacket and gloves off, before taking off his own hoodie and demanding that Goro wear it. Goro complied under Akira’s unyielding gaze, not even twitching when Akira also gave him his glasses to wear.

Goro’s jacket and gloves were then given to Sae, who’d extracted a dark jacket out of her bag while Akira was busy getting Goro changed, and gave it to Akira who shrugged it on while she pushed Goro’s jacket and gloves into her bag before then taking out a simple make-up kit and approaching Goro.

Right. His bruises.

“How much can you fit into your bag?” He couldn’t help but ask as she applied concealer to his face.

“Enough items,” She simply replied, “I also have a facemask you could wear if that would make you more comfortable.”

“Thank you.”

The other two waited patiently until Sae was done and put the make-up kit away while Goro made sure his hoodie covered his head and cast enough shadow at his face, or what remained visible of his face after he wore the facemask.

“Ready?” Akira said as he pulled his phone out; Goro figured he, too, had the Nav.

(He was not surprised anymore.)

The other three nodded, and Akira activated the Nav.

“Returning to the real world,” The Nav chimed, and the air around them distorted again as they were transported out of the Metaverse.

Akira shoved his phone back into his pocket and with a jerk of his head towards the entrance of the alley, he beckoned the group forward to the mouth of the alley, silently telling them to leave it and head out to the street.

Goro stared blankly at the small, dark figure that darted after them and quickly climbed up Akira’s body to slip into the bag he now had hanging off his shoulder like he always did.

There was only one creature that always got taken everywhere via Akira’s bag.

Morgana poked his head out of the opening to stare at Goro with his luminous blue eyes and devious smirk, radiating smugness.

“Morgana.” Akira sighed, “Now is not the time.”

“Fine,” The cat groaned before ducking back into the bag.

Morgana spoke. The cat spoke. And it was the same voice as Mona.

Goro wanted to laugh hysterically but refrained out of fear of attracting unwanted attention to them.

“There you are.” Sakura Sojiro beckoned them forward from the side where he stood next to his car, “Get in.”

.

Sojiro drove them to Yongen-Jaya, and Sae and Akira ushered Goro out of the car and marched him towards the Sakura household.

The moment they entered the house, Morgana slipped out of Akira’s bag and darted upstairs, calling for Futaba, who came rushing down the stairs.

Her eyes landed on Goro and she froze in place, “It worked?”

“Yes, it did.” Akira patted her gently on the shoulder, and it was the signal she needed to launch herself at Goro, who hid a wince at the contact causing the lingering pain to flare up again, and latch onto him, sobbing into his (technically Akira’s) hoodie, and mumbling about how it was all her fault and how he probably hated her for it.

_“You have your teammates to thank for this.”_ The memory of what was said to him when he was arrested flashed back into his mind once more, _“You were sold out.”_

It made sense.

“I don’t blame you, Futaba.” He wrapped his arms around her, “It’s not your fault.”

“I leaked your plans to infiltrate the courthouse to the police!” She snapped, voice muffled as she kept her face pressed into his chest, “I distracted the others with a different fake infiltration to keep them away from you! I set you up to be hurt so much. I was supposed to kill you, too, but I’m a coward and I chickened out! So I told Sojiro and Akira about it, too!”

“Futaba,” He interrupted her, “I killed your mother. I deserve it even if you did kill me.”

“You didn’t!” She snapped again, “Shido did! It was all Shido’s fault!”

“Shido didn’t shoot her Shadow, I did.”

“What does that matter?!” She pushed herself off him and jabbed her hand forward, pointer finger digging into his chest, “If you keep going about that I’ll have to remind you that I am as good as your accomplice!”

“Kids!” Sojiro barked from the doorway, “Quiet down, we can’t have the whole neighborhood hear you two shouting.”

Goro, who was ready to add more to the conversation, snapped his mouth shut with an audible click, while Futaba scrubbed at her tear-streaked face with her hands.

“Right.” Futaba inhaled deeply, “We still have work to do. It’s not over yet. Shido. We still have to deal with Shido before he starts getting ideas about my supposed ability to kill off people and play it as suicide or accident, and telling me to kill the rest of the team, too.”

“We’ll gather tomorrow,” Sae interrupted, “We’ll gather _everyone_ tomorrow, and start planning about this. For now, Goro should rest. And I should get back home to prepare in case they call on me for anything. Besides-” She sighed, exhaustion clear in the lines of her face, “-I’ll have to find a way to keep Makoto from going off and doing something stupid because of this.”

Futaba pulled out her phone from her pocket, “I’ve been trying to do damage control to the best of my ability since the announcement about the suicide was made. I’ve managed to make them promise not to go off the deep end before we at least gather and discuss the topic.”

“You’ve done great, Futaba.” Akira patted her again, this time on the head, “You should rest, too.”

Futaba nodded and headed up the stairs before she hurried back down again to pull Goro with her, “You’re staying with me, no buts.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Goro glimpsed Sojiro shake his head fondly and shrug.

“Wait!” Akira called out to the two, making them stop.

“What now?” Futaba called out.

“We still need to have Takemi check Goro! I’m going to get her!”

Futaba allowed her head to drop to the wall with a thunk and groaned, “I can’t believe I fucking forgot about that.”

Goro would laugh, but he knew it would bubble out of him hysterically, and he didn’t need to worry Futaba about him more than he already did.

“I’m sure it will be quick.” He tried to assure her, and she sent a pout his way.

“Alright. Fine. Just.” She sighed, “I have a lot of things to tell you tomorrow.”

“And we too have a lot of things to tell others tomorrow.”

“I know.” Her eyes glinted, “We have more people on our side now. We can take Shido down. We can be free.” Her hold on his hand tightened, “We _will_ be free.”

.

End

Yes, I’ve been dreaming about accomplices!PT for ages.


End file.
